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Kerala / The New Indian Express

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Kerala designates K-SOTTO as sole authority for deceased, living donor programmes

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Health Department has designated the Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (K-SOTTO) as the sole authority for both deceased and living donor programmes in the state. By bringing all public transplant centre units underK-SOTTO, the department aims to enhance efficiency, strengthen coordination, and build greater public trust in organ donation and transplantation. A direct representative ofK-SOTTOwill now be involved in every stage of the process. A unified command system in the organ transplantation sector, the government aims to make organ donation activities across the state more transparent and faster. This decision is expected to bring significant relief to many patients awaiting organ transplant surgeries in Kerala. Until recently, each zonal office under the Deceased Donor Multi Organ Transplant Programme (DDMOTP) was managed by a Nodal Officer and Assistant Nodal Officer, senior faculty members nominated from the respective medical colleges, along with two contract-based Transplant Coordinators. The Principals of medical colleges or zonal nodal officers exercised control over coordinators and fund utilization. Under the new system,K-SOTTOhas the authority to assign duties to transplant coordinators beyond their zonal jurisdiction whenever emergencies or special circumstances arise. Previously, the organ donation programme required rapid decision-making across multiple hospitals but remained fragmented at the zonal level. To address this, the Health Department has placed all units under the administrative, functional, and financial control ofK-SOTTOs Executive Director. The zonal offices of DDMOTP will now be renamed asK-SOTTOZonal Offices. K-SOTTO to draw guidelines to promote swap-kidney transplant Organ transplantation demands seamless coordination among various teams. AK-SOTTOrepresentative will serve as the single point of contact, handling family counselling, mobilising transplant teams for organ retrieval, and overseeing coordination at the transplant site itself, explained Dr. Noble Gracious SS, Executive Director ofK-SOTTO. TheK-SOTTOrepresentative will also coordinate the certification of brain stem death, which requires examination by four doctors on two occasions, six hours apart. Public trust grows when people see the involvement of government agencies, transparency in procedures, and fairness in organ distribution. Every step is facilitated, monitored, and organised byK-SOTTOwith support from the central administration in Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. Noble Gracious added. He further noted that continuous policy interventions have strengthened the deceased donor programme, which was once met with scepticism. Policy changes are delivering results. Our outreach, awareness drives, and training programmes have expanded, and the public is increasingly aware of the governments role, which has greatly enhanced trust, he said.

2 Dec 2025 7:57 pm